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Saturday, September 2, 2017

Change the day, but keep the date

Sunday, September
3, is Australia’s Independence Day. This is not a day that is celebrated in
this country. The truth is, very few would be aware that September 3 marks the
anniversary of the day that Australia first cut the cord to the Mother Country.

In all the
current emotional debate around the significance of Australia’s national day it
is important to start with the facts. The same goes for all the controversy
around Section 44 of the Constitution and MPs’ allegiances.

The main contentious
passage in Section 44 reads:

“Any person who is under any acknowledgement
of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a
citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a
foreign power … shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator
or a member of the House of Representatives.”

The High Court
will determine the legalities of MPs’ citizenship status today. However, for
the public debate it is important to know that when this was written there were
no Australian citizens. There certainly were Australian characters, and the
term “citizen”, was used essentially to distinguish between those who lived
here and those who were just visiting.

However, Australia’s
permanent residents were all British subjects. Therefore when the Constitution
referred to “a foreign power”, it meant foreign to the British Empire.

Five years after
Section 44 was written, while ruling on a case between the Attorney-General and
Ah Sheung, the High Court stated: “We are not disposed to give any countenance
to the novel doctrine that there is an Australian nationality as distinguished from
a British nationality.”

John Curtin, The first Prime Minister of an independent Australia.

The ANZACs,
although made up of troops from Australia and New Zealand, were officially
British soldiers under Imperial command.

A quick skim
through the newspapers and Hansard in the early 20th century certainly
gives the impression that, although Australia was strongly parochial, it was also
proudly British.

When the United
Kingdom opened the door to independence for its dominions with the Statute of
Westminster in 1931, there was no vocal appetite to take up the offer Down
Under.

Australia’s
independence was forged in the furnace of World War II.

It was 75 years
ago, as the war raged in Europe, Africa and the Pacific – with the Japanese
bombing Darwin and sending submarines into Sydney Harbour – that the Curtain
Government became concerned it did not have any authority over Australian
troops on board British ships.

Ben Chifley was the first Prime Minister to hold Australian citizenship, although he remained a British national.

This is when it
decided it would be a good idea to action sections of the Statute ofWestminster, declaring Australia’s independence.

“We are an
Australian Government responsible primarily to the people of Australia,” said
the then Foreign Minister Doc Evatt. “We need this legislation in order to
remove burdensome restrictions and unsatisfactory delays which still clog the rights
of Australians to control their own domestic affairs.”

Despite
reservations of the conservative Opposition, the Statute of Westminster
Adoption Act was passed on October 9, 1942, but its affect was back dated to
the “Commencement of War between His Majesty the King and Germany”, September
3, 1939.

So the
Commonwealth of Australia entered the war as a British dominion and came out as
an independent nation, albeit under the Crown.

However, the
idea of Australian nationality remained a “novel doctrine”. Australian
residents were all still British subjects.

The post-war
immigration boom was rapidly changing the nature of Australia down the pathway toward
the multicultural society we have today.

“There is
amongst Australians a growing sense of our Australian national identity — reflecting
the growth in our population and in our stature amongst the nations of the world,”
said Australia’s first Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell, in 1948. “The
Government accordingly considers it to be desirable, progressively and by
whatever means are reasonably possible, to give primacy to the expression
'Australian citizen'.”

With that he
introduced the Nationality and Citizenship Bill, for its second reading in the
House of Representatives.

“The introduction
of this Bill is proof that Australia has really grown up,” said the Member for
Wilmott, Gil Duthie.

Again the Bill struck
opposition from the conservatives.

"We must
have a care that in creating the new, we do not destroy the old, and that in
this new-found freedom we do not impetuously impair our allegiance to the
Mother Country,"said
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party Eric Harrison.

“We are
drifting further and further apart in outlook from the Mother Country, and it
appears to me that we are veering more and more towards a policy of
isolationism.”

The Nationality
and Citizenship Act was passed in 1948, to take effect from January 26, 1949.

But still,
Australian citizens remained primarily British subjects and their nationality
was officially British until the Gorton Government in 1969 amended the Nationality
and Citizenship Act to give primacy to Australian citizenship.

John Gorton with his wife, Bettina. He was the first Prime Minister to hold Australian Nationality.

It was the
Hawke Government in 1984 that finally did away with Australian’s dual
citizenship status. From then on they were no longer British subjects.

There is much
debate right now about Australia Day, January 26. Both major parties officially
support the date, but you don’t have to be clairvoyant to notice it is with
diminished enthusiasm.

Nobody is
pushing for Independence Day, September 3. Perhaps the way forward is to stop
focusing on the raising of the Union Jack on January 26, 1788, claiming the
British colony of New South Wales.

Instead we
should celebrate the more inclusive January 26, 1949, when the newly
independent nation of Australian granted citizenship to its diverse population.

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About Me

Leonard McDonnell is a writer (pronounced 'righter'). Wherever he sees wrong, he tries to make it right - by writing.
He has been a journalist for over 30 years. He has worked for The Sun News Pictorial, The Herald, The Age and The Sunday Age in Melbourne. He was a columnist for the Sunday Sun and the Herald Sun’s first Weekend Features Editor. Today he is a freelance journalist and speech writer specialising in the energy industry.
His book, "Siamo Dio: The Cuckoo's Egg" is available on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F4WWY4I